COLOMBO, JAN. 2, REUTER — Sri Lanka’s biggest Tamil guerrilla group vowed on Monday to continue its fight against Indian forces sent to the island to help crush their separatist rebellion.
In a statement issued shortly before Prime Minister Ramasinghe Premadasa was sworn in as president, and a day after India said it was withdrawing some troops, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam pledged to “continue its struggle against Indian occupation until the total withdrawal from the Tamil homeland.”
India announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing two battalions of its 50,000 troops on the island at the request of the president-elect.
Premadasa, to be sworn in at a ceremony at Kandy, the former capital in the central highlands, had asked Indian authorities to announce the partial withdrawal before his inauguration.
Indian high commissioner (ambassador) Jyotindra Nath Dixit told reporters up to 3,000 soldiers would be withdrawn in the next few days.
He said Premadasa made the request on December 21, two days after his election.
Troops were sent to Sri Lanka under an agreement signed in July 1987 by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and outgoing Sri Lanka president Junius Jayewardena, aimed at ending the Tamil rebellion.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 6, 1989
